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Elizabeth Farnsworth talks with our regular panel of historians about an entire generation forged by World War II and Bob Dole's prominent place in it.
ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: We get those perspectives from three of our regulars plus one, Presidential Historians Doris Kearns Goodwin and Michael Beschloss and Author/Journalist Haynes Johnson are joined tonight and throughout this convention week by William Kristol, editor and publisher of 'The Weekly Standard.' Welcome. Haynes, the World War II generation and Bob Dole's generation has been so important for the past, ever since World War II, in American politics, hasn't it?
HAYNES JOHNSON, Author/Journalist: It's remarkable what we just saw, not only the Richard Ben Cramer eloquent sort of characterizing of what happened to him as one of those millions of Americans who served in the war, but Dole, himself, before that, choking on this day, and he said something very interesting. This was here in San Diego. He said on this day VJ Day. I would bet you that most Americans don't know what VJ Day was. This is, in fact, 51 years ago today that World War II ended and America stepped fully onto the stage of history. We had won the war. We were unsurpassed in power and unity and purpose, and it shaped all of that generation, not just Bob Dole.
And it's fascinating to think about 10 Presidents up until Bill Clinton, all of them were shaped by World War II. You had Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, the great commanders of the war who became President, the next seven all wore the uniform in World War II--Jack Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, Gerry Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George Bush, and then there's a cleavage going up to the next generation born after war with Bill Clinton. Now here on this 51 years to the day later that this whole extraordinary event occurred, here they're asking for the last hurrah, the last of the generation to lead America into the 20th century. It's quite a remarkable moment.
ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: Doris, do you think that this generation, that Bob Dole of this generation can speak to people that might not know what VJ Day is?
DORIS KEARNS GOODWIN: Well, I think there's no question that there's an extraordinarily powerful story that that generation holds for all America, not just because it was 50 years ago, but it was a time when we were so far behind Germany we had a common enemy, we had a common sense of mission, and we pulled together. And when you think about what we accomplished there, it makes the problems of the cities, it makes the problems of welfare seem to much lesser.
But I think the problem is even when you saw Dole with those other veterans, they looked old. He looks amazingly well, but I think he's afraid perhaps of dealing with that too much because of the age issue. We're an unforgiving country about age. Before Reagan, the oldest President was William Henry Harrison, and he didn't come to a great end. He gave his inaugural address two months later, and he had pneumonia and died. So we're not great about that. Asian countries, European countries are much better, so I think he's careful. He's not sure he can use this card, but it's a very powerful story to tell, both emotionally and patriotically.
ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: Thinking about his history growing up in Russell, Kansas, the war, the recovery period, can he--has this prepared him to deal, do you think, with the kinds of things that he has to deal with today? Can he translate that experience in today's world?
MICHAEL BESCHLOSS, Presidential Historian: Well, I think generally generationally he can because the heroism of this generation didn't just stop with the end of World War II. This was the generation in American history that went on to go under the GI Bill and build the interstate highway system, desegregated America, won the Cold War, one of the most heroic generations in American history. One paradox that Bob Dole finds himself in his he's living in a very anti-heroic age. He's living in an age that's very different from the America he came home to in 1945, very TV-oriented.
Bob Dole, obviously, is not terribly conversant with the pop culture of the 1990's. Bill Clinton probably knows who Snoop Doggy Dog is. Bob Dole probably didn't until his handlers told him. That made it a little bit more difficult for him, I think, during the early campaign. But one thing that a candidate can do is to communicate the values of an earlier period. One of the strongest methods of appeal that Ronald Reagan used in 1980 was to say we've been as a country through a period of great anxiety, lack of self-confidence, especially during Vietnam and Watergate, I'm going to take you back to an earlier period of national unity. I think Bob Dole has at least the chance of doing that as well.
ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: What do you think about that, Bill?
WILLIAM KRISTOL, The Weekly Standard: Well, it'll be interesting to see. America owes a lot to the World War II generation, and I guess the question of this campaign will be whether they think they owe the World War II generation one more occupancy of the White House. I think Doris is right, though. I mean, I grew up, my father served in World War II, I grew up reading about World War II. World War II movies were still being made in the 60's. That all ended partly just as a matter of time and partly because of Vietnam.
But an awful lot of voters today--for an awful lot of voters today, World War II was their grandfather's war, not even their father's war, let alone their own war. It was 51 years ago. It would be as if a World War I veteran were running for President in 1968 when Nixon and Humphrey ran. And, you know, I, myself, I was moved by seeing Bob Dole. It really is a question whether younger voters, though, look at that and say, it's admirable but do we want him as our President?
HAYNES JOHNSON: And you said something very interesting to me. You used the word “Vietnam.” That to this generation, this contemporary, your generation and most Americans today, the majority of them, that was the war that was very divisive. It wasn't like the glory of World War II with a unity of purpose, and the question is whether we go back now. Do the people want to go back in time? That's going to be a fascinating choice.
ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: Haynes, what do you think about the age issue? Is it the fact that he is a certain age, or is it the way he has difficulty connecting with the younger generation?
HAYNES JOHNSON: You know, I think that Doris said earlier history is a President's--this would be the oldest President in our history, but it's also how you relate. I think what Michael was talking about and what you're talking about, the books and movies, it is a different generation, not just one but maybe two generations, grandfather's times, and whether that seems relevant to the America of today seems to me pertinent to the whole campaign.
DORIS KEARNS GOODWIN: I think what matters more is the mental connection that you make with the people, and that's not a matter of age. I mean, Ronald Reagan was able to make that. I mean, he worried about age. I mean, there's a great story where he used to like to say that he was actually younger than a lot of European leaders, which was true. Asian leaders are much older. But on the other hand, someone said to him, but Justgard De Stang is 15 years younger than you, and he said, who?
And the handlers later said, should we issue a correction because the fact was he hadn't heard what the name was, but they figured it would look worse for him to not be able to hear than to be ignorant of who Justgard De Stang was. So age was a problem in his campaign. He overcame it brilliantly with humor and with connection to the American people. I don't think it's an irretrievable problem for Dole.
ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: Well, thank you all.
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